This weekend has been busy — yesterday, I gave my talk at the Amaz!ng Meeting, and I think it went OK. I tried to go against type and gave a talk that was all science and biology*, no debunking, no godless inspiration pep talk, no railing at the state of delusional thinking and ignorance in the US. I saved all that instead for the conversations with people afterwards. I was hanging out with swarms of people all day and all night, talking myself hoarse and listening to all these interesting skeptics. I was up until 3am, at which time I discovered I was drinking something bright blue called an “Adios, Motherfucker”, which seemed like an appropriate time to finally drag myself off to bed.

Today contains many more talks, and Ben Goldacre and I are hoping to sneak away sometime today to do something which isn’t quite what you might think a pair of soft-spoken tweedy academics would normally do…but you’ll just have to wait a bit to discover what that might be. Maybe we can get away during some boring, unimportant talk, like Phil Plait’s.

Anyway, if you really must hear my terrifying opinions on various matters like religion and science, I recorded a podcast for Point of Inquiry earlier this week, so you can tune into that and listen to D.J. Grothe needle me. While I was here, I also recorded about an hour of stuff for the Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe, which isn’t up yet, but Steve Novella has been all over the place here at TAM6 assembling lots of material — keep an eye on that podcast for all kinds of exciting conversation, not just with me, but many other people as well.

*Well, and with a good dose of Phil Plait bashing. Unfortunately, he’s giving his talk today, and I expect retaliation and escalation.

With all that speaking, late hours, the toxic “Adios Motherfucker, early rising(it’s a wonder you got up after that drink!) no doubt shitty talk from those so afflicted, and no doubt a lot of stopping by passersby for boring banter, it will be a wonder if you remember to get back home with all your senses intact! Anyway, keep alert and remember that you don’t live out there!

“Today contains many more talks, and Ben Goldacre and I are hoping to sneak away sometime today to do something which isn’t quite what you might think a pair of soft-spoken tweedy academics would normally do…but you’ll just have to wait a bit to discover what that might be.”

Anyone notice anything a little, um, homogeneous about the presenters? Sorry, but can’t they find more than a single woman to speak every year? Skeptics’ organizations might be more appealing to me if they weren’t the same men featured again and again (no offense intended, PZ; sounds like you gave a great talk).

PZ, On the POI interview towards the end it seemed as though Grothe’s rhetoric was blurring what should be your key point…christians/whoever go to college and REALIZE atheism. It is not a belief system at all in fact, belief is irrelevant to evidence. That is the connection between science and atheism.

An poor analogy: A person could believe calculus is false, but if they can accept algebra, it takes only a little more math to prove calculus to them. At some point that person will reach an impasse: engage in some cognitive dissonance or accept the proof. They already accept algebra, so how can continue their faith? They can’t. It is the same way in biology; at some point the facts will push you into a personal impasse between religious myths or evolution. If a person accepts anatomy, bacteria, and Na/K ATPase, they can’t reject evolution.

The main difference between a theist and an atheist is a willingness to learn.

Hey, Dr. Myers! I listened to the first part of your interview on Point of Inquiry this morning, and I have a minor quibble. I lost track of the number of times you used the phrase “Southern Baptists”, but it was enough to irritate me. All southerners are not Baptists, and all Baptists are not Southern. There is a strong perception in this country that Southerners are ignorant, fundamentalist, redneck idiots, and some of us who live here and love it here resent it.
Other than that, I quite enjoyed the interview, and am looking forward to hearing the rest of it next week. Thanks!

Kevin @ #18,
Southern Baptist is the name of a specific denomination of the Baptists. It’s use is correct as referring to a specific denomination, which is indeed not limited to the south, nor are all Baptists part of this particular sect.